Security Guard, Father of 2, Held for Slayings of Prostitutes & Terrorizing Women

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A bookish history major who attended two Texas universities.
A longtime Houston-area resident who graduated from high school in Liberty County.

A husband, a father with two sons, a security guard with an imposing 6-foot-3-inch, 350-pound frame who aspired to be a police officer.

This is the nondescript biography of one Steven Alexander Hobbs, a 40-year-old Crosby man whose arrest has raised the specter that a serial killer may have been terrorizing women in Harris County for years.

Hobbs is at the epicenter of a quickly expanding investigation into the slayings of prostitutes in eastern Harris County after being charged with murder in two cases last week.

Investigators are now sifting through files on another 20 unsolved homicides of prostitutes to see if Hobbs might have been involved.

Detectives describe Hobbs as a savvy predator who targeted prostitutes, knowing they are hesitant to report crimes against them.

Neighbors describe him as "creepy," saying he would often sit in his van at night, in solitude, reading.

"He maintains one life, or one persona, and then he's someone else. He's just a predator outside of that."

Hobbs is accused of murdering two women* - one in 2002, the second in 2010 - adding to charges that he allegedly attacked four other prostitutes he picked up for sex.

In at least one case, investigators say, an approaching vehicle startled Hobbs, allowing the prostitute he allegedly was strangling to escape. Investigators doubt they have uncovered all his crimes.

"We'd be foolish to think there was no possibility he couldn't be involved in any others," said Nelson, citing Hobbs' age, the number of years he lived in the area, and the eight years between the killings he's accused of.

One of Hobbs' attorneys scoffed at that.

"It's expected they would like to get rid of cold case files, and this is an easy way to do it," said Houston attorney Allen Isbell.

"If there's any evidence that might tend to connect Mr. Hobbs, they would at least charge him with it."

Isbell said Hobbs intends to plead not guilty to the murder charges against him.

"Nothing that I have seen indicated he is homicidal, or he's a predator - a word I've heard used by the authorities," Isbell said, "which, by the way, causes prejudice in the public eye … people think he's guilty because they heard him called a predator, and that's unfair."

Hobbs was arrested a few blocks from the Harris County courthouse early on Oct. 7, after detectives from Pasadena came to downtown Houston to obtain a warrant for attacks on three prostitutes.

They learned that Hobbs was assigned to guard a nearby building and staked out the location, said Pasadena police spokesman Vance Mitchell.

The detectives, accompanied by Harris County sheriff's investigators and a television production crew from The First 48 crime program on A&E, watched Hobbs leave the building periodically for a cigarette.

The officers then entered the building and confronted Hobbs - who was armed - and arrested him without incident.

"He kept asking 'What am I being arrested for?' Other than that, there was no confrontation," Mitchell said.

Hobbs graduated from Liberty High in June 1989, and earned a bachelor of arts degree in history from Beaumont's Lamar University in 1996, school officials confirmed.

Homicide investigators say he had worked as a construction supervisor and held other jobs, and became licensed as a private security officer in August 2004.

Texas Department of Public Safety officials suspended his license Oct. 11 due to criminal allegations against him, a DPS official confirmed.

For most of his career in security, according to DPS records, Hobbs worked for Houston-based MPS Security Services Inc.

Hobbs lived with his wife and two sons for about 12 years on Alpha Lane, a narrow, sleepy street in Crosby less than half a mile long that runs right behind Beaumont Highway.

The bodies of the two women he is accused of killing were discarded within miles of the home.

While there is usually little traffic, residents have now seen an onslaught of news media and curious onlookers wanting to drive down the street for a peek of the modest one-story house where Hobbs lived.

Most of the one-story Southern-style houses on Alpha have inviting front porches with welcome mats at their doors.

Their yards are well-manicured, their hedges neatly trimmed. Some have trellises entwined with flowers.

However, aside from its distinct yellow color, the Hobbses' home does not resemble most of the others on the street.

The front lawn is patchy. Part of the fence has fallen away in the backyard, which is dotted with weeds and tall grass.

Nearby residents say Hobbs and his family lived a quiet existence, not socializing with neighbors.

'He was kind of strange'

Hobbs' next-door neighbor, who asked not to be identified, said she had spoken to him no more than a handful of times.

She said Hobbs worked nights, and she usually saw him walking into his house in the afternoon.

"He was kind of strange, but we never thought anything like that," she said, in regard to the allegations against Hobbs.

She said often she would awake in the middle of the night to notice Hobbs sitting in his van *- the same white van that authorities allege he used to lure prostitutes - parked in his driveway, smoking cigarettes and reading.

"It was kind of creepy and strange," the neighbor said.

She said the couple's children, who also mostly stayed in the house, made attempts to be friendly, occasionally helping neighbors bring in groceries or waving hello.

Although most residents on the street did not know Hobbs or his family, they were still stunned to hear of the charges.

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PASADENA, Texas – Police are investigating whether a security guard charged with attacking at least three prostitutes could be linked to other crimes in the Pasadena area.

Steven Hobbs, 40, of Crosby, was being held without bond in the Harris County Jail Monday.

He's charged with two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and a sexual assault charge that stems from an incident on June 17.

According to court documents, Pasadena police were investigating the murder of a prostitute. Wanda Trombley's skeletal remains were found last month in the 6100 block of Red Bluff. All three women that Hobbs is accused of assaulting knew Trombley, according to police.

Investigators asked another known prostitute if she knew of anyone who’d been harming hookers lately. She described a man she said raped her on June 17.

The victim said she got in the car with the man in the 14000 block of Renault in Houston. She said he agreed to pay her for sex, so she directed him to a nearby motel.

But before they got there, the victim said the suspect pulled out a gun and told her to undress or he would shoot her.

The victim said he drove her to a remote area in the 10600 block of Wallisville in Houston, where he sexually assaulted her.

She said he handcuffed her hands to her feet and beat her with what she thought was a mop handle.

At some point during the assault, the victim said the suspect put on a uniform and appeared to check in with a dispatcher or employer on his phone.

She described the man as very large, with reddish-blond hair and thick eyeglasses.

Police investigating an unrelated homicide came across Hobbs as a person of interest.

When officers investigating the Wallisville assault showed the victim a photo lineup that included Hobbs’ picture, police said she identified Hobbs as her attacker.

Two other prostitutes have told police that a very large white male also assaulted them. All three alleged victims knew Trombley. And that's not the only connection.

“One of the assaults occurred on the premises of a renovation company in the Wallisville area,” said Corbett. “The body of victim Wanda Trombley was found 30 feet from the driveway of the renovation company by the same name in Pasadena. Common to both places was a 40-year-old security guard – one Steven A. Hobbs of Crosby.”

Hobbs was employed as a security guard for MPS Security Services. He's 6'4 and weighs about 350 pounds.

Investigators said Hobbs’ boss confirmed that he did work as a security guard, that he had handcuffs and that he would have been working near the site of the Wallisville alleged assault that day.

Police said they’re testing to see if Hobbs could be linked to other crimes by DNA evidence.

Hobbs' neighbors on Alpha Drive in Crosby said they were upset to hear about the arrest of the married father of two.

"They're saying this couldn't have happened. And I say you don't know. You really don't know people," said Henry Naskrent.

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